I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was born in 1770, the 7th of April, in England and died
at the age of 80. He was a Romantic poet, who wrote important papers, such as
Lyrical Ballads, Poems in Two Volumes, The Excursion, The Prelude(a
semiautobiographical poem), I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and many more.
The one I am about to approach is I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud or
Daffodils, known as a lyrical poem, one of William Wordsworth famous work.
The poem was written between 1804-1807 and was published for the first
time in 1807 in Poems in two Volumes and as a revised version, in 1815.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud was actually inspired by a real event. In
volume 3 of The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, we actually have a
piece of his sisters diary, Dorothy: When we were in the woods beyond
Gowbarrow Park, we saw a few daffodils close to the water side. We fancied that
the sea had floated the seeds ashore, and that the little colony had so sprung up.
But as we went along there were more, and yet more; and, at last, under the
boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore,
about the breadth of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so
beautiful. They grew among the mossy stones, about and above them; some
rested their heads upon these stones, as on a pillow for weariness; and the rest
tossed and reeled and danced, and seemed as if they verily laughed with the
wind that blew upon them over the lake. They looked so gay, ever glancing,
ever changing. This wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was here and
there a little knot, and a few stragglers higher up; but they were so few as not to
disturb the simplicity, unity, and life of that one busy highway. We rested again
and again. The bays were stormy, and we heard the waves at different distances,
and in the middle of the water, like the sea...."
The plot of the poem is quite simple: we have the description of a field
filled with daffodils, the personification of the beautiful flowers, compared to the
stars, the gold, and although the poet will leave the actual place that seemed to
be like Heaven for him, in his heart he will always have the picture of the
daffodils, but not only the picture, but he will actually dance with the daffodils.
In the first four lines, the poet actually is trying to put us in the
atmosphere of the poem, saying that he was wandering lonely as a cloud, a
comparison, but a metaphor also, in my opinion. He is very surprised that he saw
a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils. Of course, the annexation of the two
terms is unique, because we never have thought that we could say that daffodils
stay in crowds. Anyway, we understand that there were a lot of daffodils grown in
one place. Of course, in the 5th and 6th line, the daffodils are thought to be
creatures, because the author assigns them qualities of humans: dancing in the
breeze.

Next stanza begins by making a comparison between the stars and

the flowers. Daffodils are seen by the poet shining brightly and there are so
many that he cannot count them. It is a never-ending line of daffodils. This
appears to be as a hyperbole. He manages to count ten thousand dancing
flowers, that were lively, joyful. Again, the daffodils are personified.
Third stanza shows us the fact that the waves also danced in the
breeze, but they didnt do it as lovely as the flowers did. The flowers are always
putted on the first place. Again, we have the adjective sparkling which shows us
the connection with the stars. In the next lines, we sense the presence of the
author again (as in the first line) and he refers to himself as a poet. Of course,
he admits that he cannot be sad, in such a cheerful company. In the last lines, we
have a repetition I gazedand gazed, repetition that accentuates the fact
that he was looking for a long period at them, even contemplating them. He is
actually surprised of what fortune he has found.
Finally, the last stanza enters with the picture of the poet, sitting on
his couch, an image that makes us believe it is something that he does for a long
time. He uses the two terms, vacant and pensive, to express the the
melancholy that gets to him and the fact that he will be free to do whatever he
wants, but still, he will think about the daffodils. Even then, he will have the
image of the beautiful flowers, which to him, is actually a blessed aspect of the
solitude, of the part of being alone, but not lonely, though. The image of the
daffodils brings up to his heart only joy, gladness and grace to dance with them.
The heart is also seen here as a human being, because she is able to dance.
We can say, by reading the text, that the speaker is a lonely poet, with
some good clues that he is a Romantic poet. He has a sensitivity for nature and
this thing is seen in all the 4 stanzas. It is clear that he takes walks in the nature,
he enjoys it and he will even think of them when he will be older. We can tell that
he has developed passion for nature even from the first line, when he compares
himself to a cloud, and then, when he brings up the vales, the hills, the lake, the
trees and the waves. They all mean something to him. Of course, the theme of
the poem is the beauty of the nature.
About the title of the poem we can think, at the beginning, that this
writing will be about loneliness, when, instead, is all about the joy of nature. The
author is actually using the first line from his poem to name it. But also, the
poem is known as Daffodils.
Also, National Gardens Scheme has a Daffodil Day when they allow visitors
to view the daffodils in Cumbrian gardens. The tourism board from William
Wordsworth home county released a rap version of the poem, with MC Nuts, a
red squirrel, in order to catch the attention of the young readers and media, also.
I Wandered
Lonely as a Cloud has four stanzas, each one of them having six lines.
The rhyme is quite simple, as in ABABCC. The meter is iambic.
We can gladly say that William Wordsworth piece of art isnt forgotten,
even now, in this century, the poem is being taught in many schools where the
students are learning English and is appreciated to his true value, being
understood, less or more by the readers.

Note: the topic of the essay was to discuss the theme of nature/tourism with the Romantics
through one poem of your choice. You may refer to Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats.